Central Visayas has a new Cebu-based top drug lord

TALIÑO

We have a new top drug lord along with nine other drugs lords in our list.”

This statement came from Police regional director Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, who said they updated the list of drug personalities in the region following the death of alleged top drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz in June 2016.

Taliño, however, refused to reveal the names of the top 10 drug lords who are operating in the region pending further investigations.

Pressed to give further details about the top drug lord, he said the person is not new to the illegal business.

“He’s an old player operating in Cebu. He’s been there for quite some time now. He has several contacts including from the National Bilibid Prison (in Muntinlupa City),” he said.

Taliño said the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 is coordinating with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) to locate and arrest the drug lords in the region.

Last week, PDEA-7 Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz said they are going after 19 drug lords in the region, 16 of whom are from Cebu.

The three others, he said, are based in Bohol.

Unlike PDEA, Taliño said PRO-7 came up with just the top 10 drug lords in the region.

“We’re nonetheless comparing notes with PDEA-7. The coordination is there,” he explained.

PDEA-7 agents on Friday arrested during a drug bust Marwin Abelgas, a suspected drug lord based in Barangay Dumlog, Talisay City, and four of his alleged cohorts.

Seized from them were five kilos of shabu worth P20.4 million, four ATM cards and a weighing scale.

Considered a major distributor of illegal drugs by PDEA-7, Abelgas allegedly could dispose of at least five kilos of shabu per week.

Charges for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, particularly for selling shabu, will be filed against Abelgas before the Talisay City Prosecutors’ Office next week.

The offense is non-bailable.

Early this year, Ruiz said the PDEA central office in Manila provided him with a list of names of the suspected drug lords in Central Visayas.

He said “Jaguar” Diaz, a prominent drug lord in the region in the past years, was not the only drug personality in Central Visayas.

Ruiz said their new list of suspected drug lords excludes Franz Sabalones and Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro.

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, the deputy mayor on police matters, challenged law enforcers in the region to do everything to arrest the drug lords they identified.

“If they have the names, then they should do something to arrest them. It is not enough to just identify them. Arrests should be made,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Tumulak said he has not received the list of drug lords from the police and PDEA-7.

He said it is better not to identify these drug lords until they are arrested.

“It is premature to name names. They might escape if they know they are the ones being referred to,” he said.

Tumulak said he was surprised when PDEA-7 revealed that they are going after 19 drug lords in the region.

“I was shocked. It could create fear among investors. At the same time, it will boost the morale of drug users. Something should be done to arrest them,” he said.

Arrests

Meanwhile, an alleged noted drug pusher whose name is in the PDEA list of target personalities was arrested during a buy-bust operation by the Subangdaku police Saturday evening.

Amormeo Legarde, a resident of Tipolo, Mandaue City, is currently detained at the Subangdaku Police Station.

According to Chief Insp. Genilo Veraque, they had been looking for the suspect for some time and received information that he was in his house. The buy-bust operation they conducted yielded four small sachets of suspected shabu and P200 in marked money.